The spot next to me was already cold by the time I woke up the next day, just like how it had always been for the past three years.

I used to always come up with excuses for Lorenzo, saying things like him just being used to waking up early, or being too busy with work, or naturally disliking intimacy after sex.

But now, I learned that it wasn't because he disliked intimacy. It was just that he disliked intimacy with me.

I suppressed the nausea in my guts, cleaned up the mess left from the previous night, changed into my work clothes, and headed toward the company.

I realized that something was wrong as soon as I set foot into the company.

Everyone's eyes were still fixed on me, but even more blatantly, disdainfully, and with more schadenfreude than yesterday. It was like they were waiting for some drama to unfold.

My colleague next to me, Nadia Russo, cautiously tugged at my sleeve and whispered, "Eliana, there's a problem with the database from the case you were handling. The Underboss wants to see you at his office."

I felt my heart sink.

I pushed open the door to the Underboss', Claudio Bianchi's office, and saw that Fiore was already seated inside.

She was wearing a white suit with exquisite makeup on her face. She even gave me a fake smile when she saw me walking into the room.

"Eliana, you and Fiore had been jointly managing the database for the Famiglia's cases. But now, all the core data has been corrupted, and it's all garbled. Explain this."

Claudio spoke while rubbing his temples, looking exhausted.

I was just about to speak when Fiore immediately cut in first and said, "I know that I locked the computer after checking the database with my other colleagues that night. Only Eliana and I have access to the computer, and I was with the other colleagues for the entire night. They can vouch for me."

She then paused and looked at me with a sly expression on her face. "As for Ms. Torre… Nobody knows where she was that night."

I quickly thought back about that night, my mind racing.

I was with Vincenzo at the apartment that night. He had prepared a candlelit dinner for me and even opened up a bottle of wine he claimed was a special brew from Rotugal. It tasted a little funky, but I didn't think much about it and drank it all up.

After that, I fell into a daze and made love with him all night long.

So, Vincenzo hadn't been romantic that night after all. It had just been a scheme all along.

He had spiked the wine long before I drank it so that I would blank out and give them enough time to frame me for the blunder, and so I wouldn't be able to defend myself.

"I was with Don Caputo that night," I said, gritting my teeth as I spoke.

I had no choice but to expose my three-year secret relationship with Lorenzo to save myself. However, the office door opened just then, and Lorenzo walked in, expressionlessly tossing an iPad onto Claudio's desk.

It was video footage from the office surveillance cameras, showing him entering the office together with Fiore on the exact night the data was corrupted.

"I was with Fiore discussing a new dock project that night, and this is the full CCTV footage as proof. It's impossible that Fiore was the one who did it."

Lorenzo didn't even spare me a glance, speaking in such a calm manner that he might as well just be describing the weather.

All my blood ran cold at that moment.

His Plan A was to expose my intimate photos and ruin my promotion. Meanwhile, he came up with a Plan B to frame me for the database error so Fiore could maintain a clean record.

If the photos didn't ruin me first, then this disgrace of me ruining the database would ensure that I could never recover in this industry.

They had set up a trap for me from the very start, luring me in step by step, completely removing me as an "obstacle" from Fiore's path to her promotion.

"I understand," Claudio said with a sigh. "Since you're unable to provide an alibi, Eliana, then you will be held responsible for this. Rebuilding the database will cost millions of dollars. But considering you're a long-time employee in the Famiglia, you can just pay the fine, and we'll leave it at that."

"It wasn't me!" I exclaimed in a shaky voice. "I never did it!"

Claudio waved his hand dismissively at me and stopped me from fighting back. I could only walk out of his office in a dejected manner.

I'd only just reached the hallway when I heard Lorenzo's voice from the back.

"You don't have to worry about the fine. I'll pay it on your behalf. You've already lost the chance at the promotion because of your photos, but Fiore must have no stains on her record at all. Just admit the fault and take one for her."

I stopped in my tracks, looked up, and forced the tears back in.

So to him, my career, reputation, and life could never hold up to Fiore's career—something that couldn't get a single stain on it.

"I'll make dinner for you myself tonight to make it up to you," he added in a self-righteous tone he probably thought was a gentle one.

I didn't look back at him nor stop walking forward.

I couldn't afford to eat the dinner he was planning to make for me. The price for it would be my entire life in his hands.

I went back to my seat, turned on my laptop, and opened a blank document before typing out my resignation letter.

All three years of our relationship were only worth this thin sheet of A4 paper now.

I printed it out, signed my name, and went knocking on Claudio's office. I set down the letter before him.

"Thank you for the Famiglia's support. This is my week's notice for my resignation. I've already made up my mind about leaving. Kindly acknowledge it as soon as possible."

Claudio looked at me with shock in his eyes.

"Are you really planning to resign, Eliana? Someone's already agreed to pay the fine on your behalf. You—"

"I've made up my mind."

He looked at me for a while. Then he sighed and signed off on my resignation letter, acknowledging that my notice period and the resignation procedures would be completed within the week.

I took a copy of the letter back from him. It was very light, but it weighed down heavily on me, almost suffocating me.

I would be flying off to Grayland in exactly one week as well.

And when that time came, I would be 30,000 feet above sea level in the air, leaving behind this utterly rotten city and never returning for the rest of my life.

When I walked out of the office, I heard a commotion outside.

I walked over instinctively and saw Lorenzo in the middle of a fight with another middle-aged man while Fiore stood to the side, her eyes red and bloodshot and looking extremely pitiful.

I caught wind of the whispers and gossip from the colleagues around me.

"This is one of our old clients we've been working with for decades! All he did was just tease Fiore a little, and the Don ended up beating him to a pulp like this!"

"The Don also immediately brought video surveillance proof to save Fiore regarding the database issue just now. He really is so fond of her! Do you think they're going to be getting together soon?"

"Oh, my heart! This is so romantic! I'm shipping them both together!"

I stood away from the crowd, watching as Lorenzo kicked the middle-aged man to the ground, completely passed out.

Fiore then tugged on his arm and said tearfully, "But Don Caputo, he's our biggest business partner for the dock project!"

Lorenzo turned around and looked at her with such tender eyes I'd never seen before. It made him look like a complete stranger to me.

"He never should have touched on you. You're my bottom line. So what if the Famiglia loses a supply chain? Anything is worth it as long as it's for you."

My heart felt like it was being squeezed in my chest. It hurt so much that I couldn't even breathe anymore.

I recalled the last time I'd accidentally dripped a single drop of water onto a contract.

It hadn't caused any losses or issues in the end, and I'd even taken care of it as quickly as possible. However, Lorenzo lost his shit over that and yelled and berated me in front of the entire office for a whole hour.

I always thought that he was someone who always prioritized the Famiglia's profits over anything else, but as it turned out, it wasn't like that. He just never thought I meant anything to him after all.

I turned around to leave without looking back.

Lorenzo turned around to stare at me just then, as if by clockwork, but all he caught was my back silhouette leaving determinedly.

He didn't know why, but right at that moment, he felt a sudden ache in his chest as his heart thumped wildly for a second.

…

Over the next few days, I proceeded to hand over my job and duties and packed up, watching the entire company celebrate Fiore's promotion as if I were nothing but an outsider.

Vincenzo would always come home every night. He probably realized that something had changed about me and thus began putting in a little more effort to woo me.

He would ask me where I wanted to go on a trip and what I wanted to do. He even brought up the one time I casually mentioned I wanted to try pottery and try out some of the food trucks that had opened up in the alleys.

I had wanted to try pottery for a long time, but because Lorenzo found it dirty and disgusting, he refused to keep me company.

I had also wanted to try the food trucks for a long time, but Lorenzo said that the food was unsanitary and refused to even touch them.

But now, Vincenzo was telling me that he was willing to come with me.

I knew that these were just instructions from Lorenzo. After all, the official announcement for Fiore's promotion hadn't been made yet, so they were probably worried that I'd find out something fishy about it and cause a ruckus that would eventually harm Fiore.

That was the main reason why he told Vincenzo to keep my emotions in check to "stabilize" me.

Yet, for some reason, I still went along with it and followed Vincenzo out.

We spent the rest of the night taking pottery classes. He held my hands in his as we shaped the vases with the clay on the wheel.

We had some spicy food from the food trucks afterward. It was so spicy that I couldn't stop crying. He fumbled around trying to hand me some water and wipe the food stains from my mouth.

We even managed to catch a slow, artistic film in the cinema, with Vincenzo holding my hand throughout the movie without falling asleep impatiently like he used to last time.

Around dawn, while walking past a 24-hour convenience store, my gaze had simply lingered on the hot cocoa option for a short while, but Vincenzo noticed and immediately went in to queue up and buy it for me.

I stood at the side of the street, watching his tall, lean figure mingling in the crowd, looking just like a regular boyfriend.

I felt a dull ache in my chest.

It would have been great if only all of these were real.

It would have been great if I had never heard their conversation in the office the other day.

Just then, someone slung their greasy arm over my butt and breathed alcohol all over me.

"Hello, precious. Wanna come drinking with me?"

I screamed and tried to run away from him, but the drunk pervert grabbed me by my wrist and refused to let go.

He was so strong that I simply couldn't shake him off, no matter what I did.

The passers-by all turned to look at us in shock, but nobody stepped up to help me.

Just then, Vincenzo rushed up toward us, kicking the drunkard off and shielding me behind him, his eyes cold and fierce like a predator.

"Stay away from my darling!"

The drunkard then got into a huge fight with Vincenzo, but he was no match for him. However, the drunkard suddenly grabbed a brick from the roadside and struck Vincenzo in the head with it.

Blood gushed out immediately, and some of the warm, sticky blood even splatted onto my face.

Vincenzo fell to the ground at once.

"Vincenzo!"

I dashed over to hold him up. His arms hung limply by his side, and his eyes were tightly shut.

I immediately hugged him in my arms and screamed at the crowd of onlookers around us.

"Call the ambulance! Call the ambulance at once!"

By the time the ambulance arrived, my clothes were already half soaked through with Vincenzo's blood.

I followed him into the ambulance, my arms shaking so hard the entire time that I couldn't even hold on to his hand.

I kept telling myself again and again that Vincenzo was a liar. He was the one who had put me in this predicament, and he wasn't worth my concern or my emotions.

However, I still couldn't stop myself from getting frightened. I was so frightened that he would just die on me like this.

…

The emergency room light was on for a long time. It stayed lit up for so long that I thought it would be morning soon, but then it finally went off.

The doctor said that Vincenzo was out of critical condition now, and he just needed to stay for a night for further observation.

I heaved a sigh of relief and felt my legs turning to jelly, nearly dropping to my knees.

I never slept that whole night. Instead, I sat next to his hospital bed and watched his peacefully sleeping face instead.

Vincenzo's face was a literal carbon copy of Lorenzo's. I'd been seeing Vincenzo for three years, but this was the very first time I had ever observed him so quietly like this.

He had thick eyebrows, long eyelashes, and chapped, dry lips because he'd lost too much blood.

I reached out, wanting to touch him on the cheek. However, just as my fingers were about to touch him, I suddenly drew them back.

I told myself that I would only let this go on for tonight.

I would just pretend tonight that this man, now lying in the hospital bed, was really Lorenzo, the same man I'd been loving for three years, and he also loved me back.

When it was almost dawn, I quietly made my way out of the ward, thinking of grabbing him some breakfast for when he woke up later from the shops downstairs.

Ten minutes later, I returned with some hot chicken noodle soup.

The ward door had been left ajar.

I could hear Vincenzo inside, chatting on the phone with a smile in his voice.

"Damn it, you don't have to worry about a thing, Lorenzo! I was the one who arranged for this to happen so that I could save her like a damsel in distress.

"I was the one who hired the drunkard. He's a professional stunt actor and knows just how hard to hit me so it looks convincing enough. I'm not going to die."

I froze at once, my feet refusing to take another step forward. The container of piping-hot chicken noodle soup immediately dropped to the ground, spilling soup everywhere, but I didn't even notice that it scalded my hands.

"I only did this because I don't know what the hell Eliana's gotten into these days. She just won't let me fuck her anymore. She should be all fixed after this incident now, don't you think?

"Honestly speaking, Lorenzo, she has a mole on her boobs in the exact same location as the one on Fiore's body. I won't get in between you and her, but I'll just have to satisfy myself with Eliana as her stand-in."

He continued speaking afterward, but I could no longer hear another word he said.

It was smack in the middle of summer here in Deyork, and the sun was shining down brightly on me. However, I felt so cold and chilly that I shivered and shuddered with every fiber of my body from the roots of my hair down to the toes of my feet.

So, even Vincenzo saving me from the drunk pervert was fake after all.

I didn't know how I got back to the apartment after that.

I sat down on the couch and stared at the sky outside the window as it got lighter and brighter as the sun rose without moving a single muscle.

The door then opened, and Vincenzo strode right in.

His head was still wrapped up in gauze. When he saw me, he came up to me with a smile and wanted to pull me into his arms and kiss me like he always used to.

"Darling… Won't you give me some? I'm hungry…"

I refused to move. Instead, I used up every ounce of strength in my body and shoved him off.

"Fuck off," I said in a cold, chilly voice.

Vincenzo staggered backward and nearly fell.

He was completely caught off guard as he stared at me. Then, his eyes lit up in fury.

"You fucking ingrate, Eliana Torre! I nearly got killed last night while saving your life! And this is how you repay me?"

He grabbed his coat from the couch and left, slamming the door loudly behind him.

I sat alone in the darkness and finally broke down in sobs.

I cried until my tears went dry and my voice went completely hoarse. I couldn't produce another drop of tears anymore.

I didn't want anything Lorenzo or Vincenzo owed me anymore. I just wanted to leave them forever.